In-wall speakers have become increasingly popular in recent years. Such in-wall installations eliminate the well known box-type speaker enclosures which are often difficult to position in a manner wherein they are both aesthetically desirable and provide the desired acoustic affect. In-wall speakers are disposed almost entirely within a wall structure such that only the grille and bezel are exposed. Their position is chosen and fixed at the time of installation such that the desired aesthetic and acoustic results are achieved.
Grille cloths, foam covers, and the like for visually obscuring the components of a speaker assembly are well known. They generally fall into one of three categories: non-supported foam; cloth mounted to a rigid, i.e., metal, wood, plastic, et., grille; and peripherally supported grille cloths.
It is well known to use foam either in combination with a metal grille or alone. Such foam grille covers suffer inherent deficiencies. In order to completely visually obscure the internal components of the speaker assembly, such foam covers must be substantially thick. The use of such thick covers tends to interfere with the transmission of sound therethrough and may even interfere with the motion of the speaker's driver or cone. Additionally, such foam covers tend to degrade in the presence of ultraviolet radiation. Such degradation typically involves a color change and loss of flexibility, often resulting in the foam becoming brittle. Thus, the qualities of both being able to transmit sound and block light represent conflicting parameters in the use of such foam covers. That is, the desire to transmit sound dictates that the cover be as thin as possible and the desire to block light dictates that the cover have a substantial thickness.
Another common method for visually obscuring the components of a speaker assembly is to adhesively bond a flexible cloth material to a perforated metal grille which is then used to cover the speaker assembly. Such perforated metal grilles typically comprise a section of sheet metal having a plurality of apertures, typically approximately 2 mm in diameter, formed thereon and defining a 2-dimensional array. The apertures are typically spaced approximately 3 mm apart. The size and spacing of the apertures is thus insufficient to adequately visually obscure the components, i.e. speakers, of the speaker assembly in a desired manner. The cloth is required to assure that the speaker components are visually obscured since the grille is inadequate at performing this task when utilized alone. The cloth material is generally disposed inside the perforated metal grille such that it is protected thereby. Such construction suffers from the deficiency that it inherently makes painting of the grille extremely difficult.
Intermediate or non-peripheral support is generally provided by adhesively bonding the cloth to the metal grille at portions other than the periphery thereof, i.e. generally about the entire surface thereof. However, the use of such non-peripheral support adds to the complexity of the construction, thus both increasing cost and making removal and installation of the cloth more difficult. As such, the use of such non-peripheral support is inherently undesirable.
Painting of in-wall speaker grilles is frequently required since it is often desirable to have a grille which is complementary in color to its environment, i.e. the walls and/or furnishings. Thus, a desirable aesthetic affect is often accomplished by painting the visible portion of the grille assembly.
However, the painting of a grille having a cloth adhesively bonded to the rear surface thereof presents particular problems. It is not desirable to paint the cloth along with the metal grille since such painting tends to stiffen the cloth and block the pores of the fabric, thereby reducing the cloth's ability to freely transmit sound therethrough.
Thus, it is necessary to first remove the cloth from the metal grille prior to painting and then to re-attach the cloth thereto before the grille is re-attached to the speaker assembly. Removal of the cloth requires manual dexterity and extreme care. It is very easy to stretch or tear the cloth during such removal. The removal and reattachment of the cloth to the grille adds additional undesirable steps to the painting process. Thus, it would be desirable to provide a means for visually obscuring the components of a speaker assembly while facilitating easy painting of the grille.
It is also known to support a grille cloth at only its periphery by stretching it over a frame. However, such frames are inherently complex and thus expensive to fabricate and assemble. They are also subject to problems associated with stretching or tearing of the fabric cover.
As such, although the prior art has recognized to a limited extent the problem of visually obscuring the internal components of a speaker assembly, particularly in in-wall construction, the proposed solutions have, to date, been ineffective in providing a satisfactory remedy.